Open this publication in new window or tab >>2012 (English)Conference paper, Published paper (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
Public procurement is one of the most frequent types of transactions between organizations, in this case between public and private ones. All types of transactions follow specific laws that regulate the rights and obligations of all parties involved. All parties involved in public procurement have to adhere to the national public procurement law, which in the case of the European Union member states is based on the European Union directives for public procurement. The decision making process and a number of stakeholders as well as their specific goals in the public procurement differ from the purchasing process between private organizations.
This paper points out conflicts of interest in public procurement within three main areas:
- Political versus value of money approach
- Interest of EU versus member states
- Interest of Central government versus regional/local governments
Already the base for the EU directives for public procurement can be a source of conflicts as the EU directives are derived from the five pillars of the Rome Treatise. These pillars are the base for the EU common market and none of them directly deals with public procurement. The EU directives, hence, also national public procurement laws, are there in order to fulfill the political goals of the common European market, which can be in conflict with economical and/or political goals of member states.
During the last couple of years, there has been a tendency to include more and more political goals into public procurements such as environmental and societal considerations. This can result in higher price paid by the public sector compared with similar procurements in the private sector.
The decision makers on regional/local levels are elected and should represent the interest of their communities and voters, which includes promoting regional/local companies and economic development. This task can sometimes get into conflict with the public procurement law or the central government political goals.
Keywords
public procurement, political goals, value for money
National Category
Economics and Business
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-88326 (URN)
Conference
MODEST - MODelling of Economies and Societies in Transition, 17-19 September 2012, Warsaw, Poland
2013-01-312013-01-312013-08-29